W5 Undercover shoppers test Calgary car dealershipis

[Super_Geo]

W5's Jon Woodward accompanies the Automobile Protection Agency as it tests whether Alberta car dealers are giving customers more fair deals by sending in undercover shoppers with hidden cameras.

Thoughts?
Honestly I thought they'd pull some shadier shit than what was caught on video.

[killramos]

I mean, they did this to 20 dealers and this was the worst they could come up with?

I actually don’t see this as that bad. The fee thing is kindof stupid, and rules are rules for all in pricing. But I feel like those are pretty low frequency situations. Most pricing sheets are very clear on every dollar you are paying, you are always free to tell them to pound sand on a documentation fee for a car in the showroom?

I honestly didn’t know anyone read those flyers.

[rage2]

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Most pricing sheets are very clear on every dollar you are paying, you are always free to tell them to pound sand on a documentation fee for a car in the showroom?

A lot of the disclosure is due to new rules in the last couple of years to help consumers. Financing breaks down the interest paid over term so anyone can quickly figure out TCO just looking at the sheet. In other provinces, they have to disclose actual interest rates and not just the advertised one, as you lose cash incentives with finance/lease that gets lumped as finance charges to calculate effective interest rates. It’s pretty tough to actually hide anything these days.

[revelations]

Yea nothing too surprising here. Dealers here acting like, dealers.

If I was ever to buy a new vehicle (unlikely as I dont like most new models) I would not be doing in Calgary but some small-town SK. You can save 5-10k off the cost of a vehicle in Calgary. Definitely worth the effort.

[ExtraSlow]

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You can save 5-10k off the cost of a vehicle in Calgary. Definitely worth the effort.

on what vehicle? I seriously doubt there's 5k difference in average selling price on anything between those two markets.

[revelations]

A coworker did this on a new minivan (cant recall what make). He emailed a bunch of dealers and was able get a price that was 5k lower than what he could have had in Calgary.

Trucks, probably not so much.

[ExtraSlow]

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A coworker did this on a new minivan (cant recall what make). He emailed a bunch of dealers and was able get a price that was 5k lower than what he could have had in Calgary.

Trucks, probably not so much.

Calgary dealerships probably quoted MSRP. I wish more dealers were reasonable and would quote realistic prices over email. Would be so much better.

[revelations]

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Calgary dealerships probably quoted MSRP. I wish more dealers were reasonable and would quote realistic prices over email. Would be so much better.

No he showed me some of the emails from Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton (as well as Estevan SK, where he ended up going) - they were all final, out the door prices (which was what he asked for). The BS and other admin fees were included.

Its just a matter of the market - some small towns sell trucks (Lloydminster for eg.) almost exclusively, so a non-truck vehicle would likely sell for less than in a big city.

[Misterman]

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on what vehicle? I seriously doubt there's 5k difference in average selling price on anything between those two markets.

I've never tried to bargain at these hick hole dealers, but the logic makes sense that they should be quite a bit cheaper. When a dealership is located in a town that doesn't have enough population to float them, the only conclusion that makes sense is they give amazing deals to lure people out of the surrounding cities to come buy from them instead.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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A coworker did this on a new minivan (cant recall what make). He emailed a bunch of dealers and was able get a price that was 5k lower than what he could have had in Calgary.

Trucks, probably not so much.

When I did that, almost every single dealer wouldn't talk to me over email (even follow-up emails directly to the sales managers or dealer managers were completely ignored, and personal beyond-recommended salespeople completely ignored me), even when I made it very clear I was ready to buy that same day. They lost the easiest sale ever because they couldn't be bothered to type for 30 seconds in a job that has one of the highest amounts of downtime I have ever seen. The 1 or 2 that did reply just wanted me to "come down and make a deal", completely ignoring my entire email. The one dealer that actually read my email got my business that same day. It was quite surprising to me actually how little most of them cared about making a sale.

[revelations]

^ did you try the out of town dealers? The sales reps in the city tend to be pretty snooty.

The tone of the email has to be pretty committed - in that you know exactly what make/model/colour options you want - and then you can get a out the door price on that unit.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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^ did you try the out of town dealers? The sales reps in the city tend to be pretty snooty.

The tone of the email has to be pretty committed - in that you know exactly what make/model/colour options you want - and then you can get a out the door price on that unit.

Yup, every single Honda dealership in Calgary plus Okotoks, Airdrie, and High River. In the instances I had a beyond recommendation for a specific salesperson, I emailed that person directly and cc'd the sales manager. Airdrie and Okotoks were the only two that even bothered to read my email, and Okotoks got the sale because they simply agreed right off the bat.

It was very committed, detailed, and complete. Color, options, trim, extras (3M), etc. I included all my math showing them a fair profit over their invoice right down to the tire & A/C tax and AMVIC fee. Everything was made crystal clear for them. I told them I had already driven it and wouldn't even be needing a test drive. Literally all they had to do was say "yes" and I would have come down same day (which I also made clear). I did 99.9% of the work for them, the only thing they would have had to do is write it up and every single dealership in Calgary couldn't even be bothered to read the email, even when sent to more than one person at the same dealership. If I was a salesperson working solely for commission, I would take the 30 seconds to reply to the email even on the off chance it generated a sale - how could you not. Honestly it was quite surprising.

[schocker]

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The fee thing is kindof stupid, and rules are rules for all in pricing. .

This thread made me look up what provinces have all in pricing in preparation for my Mercedes search and it is BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. I always thought it was only a couple provinces but it is more than I imagined.

[jdmXSI]

I thought this was something a bit newer, it originally aired march of 2017... From experience, things most certainly have not changed especially with higher volume dealers.

@schocker er from my understanding BC still has their admin fee that is not included in their pricing. This was according to a sales manager I had who just moved from Vancouver. Could have changed in the past few months though.

[schocker]

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@schocker er from my understanding BC still has their admin fee that is not included in their pricing. This was according to a sales manager I had who just moved from Vancouver. Could have changed in the past few months though.

I did see an article after searching that says they can have that separate but it must indicate it in the ad, otherwise it is assumed to be all-in.

[schurchill39]

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on what vehicle? I seriously doubt there's 5k difference in average selling price on anything between those two markets.

I know a lot of guys who do this with pick up trucks. Especially the higher value trucks like one tons. By the sounds of it 5k savings is pretty easy if not more. Estevan or Moose Jaw have been the two names that pop up frequently. A friend who farms by Rosetown just replaced 3 pick up trucks and got them from Estevan because of the savings versus going to Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, or Regina. The one guy picked up a Ram 1500 from Moose Jaw after a similar deal they had getting their Grand Caravan the year before.

My last truck I bought from Rosetown, SK at a reasonable discount for a used vehicle compared to any city dealerships. The current truck would have been cheaper (versus a comparable one in Calgary) had I got it in Medicine Hat, but they didn't quite have the options combination I wanted.

[HiTempguy1]

A lot of it is about convenience.

There are people in this very thread that wouldn't drive a 4 hour round trip to save themselves $1,000

No different than the people that trade vehicles in vs selling privately. "I don't want the hassle" they say as they take an extra $4k haircut on their vehicle sale. Different strokes for different folks.

[jaylo]

I think shopping outside Calgary is bare minimum if you want to save and bigger discount.